Lance Schulters

ARTICLES ABOUT LANCE SCHULTERS BY DATE - PAGE 2

The announced crowd of 72,288 celebrated rookie tailback Ronnie Brown's coming-out party by chanting his first name, but it was the late heroics of two veterans that sent the fans at Dolphins Stadium home happy. A 37-yard interception return by free safety Lance Schulters helped set up a 32-yard Olindo Mare field goal with four seconds remaining, giving the Dolphins a wild 27-24 victory Sunday over the Carolina Panthers. "I'm just happy to be 2-1," middle linebacker Zach Thomas said. "Nobody expected us to be that at this point."

Near game's end, as the day slipped away, with Dolphins Stadium sweating and the temperature rising on the Dolphins' sideline, safety Lance Schulters turned to his teammates in the secondary and said, "I'm ready to make a big play." It would be too nice and tidy to say that's why the Dolphins won a game on Sunday that they wouldn't have a year ago. Or that's why South Florida wakes up this morning with one of the NFL's surprise starts, which of course it does. It also would be too simple to write Schulters' determined thought is why South Florida won't be throwing poisonous darts at a third week's worth of god-awful penalties or the obvious problems in the secondary.

Dolphins safety Lance Schulters is a Brooklyn guy. Growing up, he was a fan of the New York Giants. He went to Hofstra University, where the Jets train. He can't understand why they snubbed him. "They could have drafted me [but] passed," Schulters said. "They could have signed me as [an unsigned] free agent and passed. They could have signed this summer and passed again. I would like to go up there and give it to them any way we can. I am thinking of our team first, but I do have feelings about them."

Dolphins kicker Olindo Mare lost his long snapper of the past eight seasons when Ed Perry was cut a few weeks ago, and now his holder won't be around for Sunday's season opener as well. Punter Matt Turk, who has held for Mare in four of the past five seasons, is hampered by a right groin pull. Although Turk is listed as questionable, a source confirmed Friday that he will not play against Denver. It appears second-year punter Donnie Jones will be moved off the practice squad and into the starting lineup.

Although Dolphins coach Nick Saban detests any mention of the weekly depth chart, he is concerned about the team's overall depth. "My old college coach, Don James [at Kent State], used to say, `How good our team [is] will be based on the quality of the bottom 40 players, not the top 40 players,'" Saban said a few days before tonight's road game against the Pittsburgh Steelers (1-0). "If you were to use a pro team, I guess you would say 25 [of 53] because it adds depth. It means if you lose a player, you have a quality player to take his place.

The Dolphins signed safety Lance Schulters to a one-year contract on Thursday and waived undrafted free agent Abram Elam, a Cardinal Newman graduate, to make room for him. Schulters, who was paid a $250,000 roster bonus earlier in the spring by the Titans, will earn $665,000 from the Dolphins with another $600,000 in incentives possible, according to a source. Elam, a Riviera Beach resident, was also a safety. He had a sexual battery conviction while at Notre Dame and played his senior year at Penn State.

Maybe you had a good seat for this debacle, at least until you angrily tried to toss it out the nearest window. Thankfully, in sympathy with the Dolphins' offense, that seat likely would have been fumbled upon a sack by your houseguests, intercepted before landing or not sharp or fast or strong enough to hurt anyone anyway. And no matter how good a view that seat gave you Sunday, for however long you used it, Lance Schulters had a far better one. The Titans safety was staring in and looking down at the Dolphins' offense all day, just as he was when it went scoreless against his 49ers two years ago. Schulters saw roughly what the Patriots and Colts saw, and the trend suggests the next seven opponents will see. Something unsightly, yet more scared than scary.

The medical problems faced by Tennessee free safety Lance Schulters and Pittsburgh guard Kendall Simmons are a reminder that football players are human, too. Schulters was recently diagnosed with Bell's palsy, which is an affliction that weakens the facial muscles and causes facial paralysis. With his left eye unable to close all the way, Schulters is having vision problems at a position where seeing the entire field is a must. "Some of [my teammates] were joking about it at first," said Schulters, who had six interceptions for the Titans in 2002.

It wasn't quite a throwback to the glory days of the 1980s and early 1990s, when the San Francisco 49ers had a smothering defense to go with their unstoppable offense. But for at least a week, the rebuilding process of this fallen franchise seems on the verge of a major breakthrough. Fingers are crossed that what it did to the Kansas City Chiefs seven days ago can be repeated against the Atlanta Falcons today. The 21-7 victory was the first time since Week 4 of the 1999 season (24-22 over the Titans)